Most of the time, anything new freaks me out. I like things to stay as much the
same as possible-same foods, same routine, same people in my life, same activities, etc.
Even trying a new food can really put me into a tizzy. For example, if we actually
venture to a new restaurant instead of our usual haunts, I most often take way too
long looking at the menu. This is because I am searching for the most familiar dishes
that I can order. Pasta with marinara you say? I’ll take it. Hot beef sandwich?
That’s it-I’m ordering that. The familiar is what soothes my anxiety, and something
new exacerbates it.
But I am amazed at how relaxed I have been about this change of employment that
I have gone through in the past month. For those of you that don’t know, I was an
Adoption Therapist at Children’s Home Society for over 17 years up until January
18th of this year. I have always wanted to start a private counseling practice and
back in April I received the license I needed in order to do that—someday. But as I
was piecing together a potential timeline one day, something strange happened. It
struck me that I needed to do this within that next month.
Now, one of the things we wanted to have done before I went on this adventure was
to have our acreage sold so that we would have the money available to finance the
business. My husband had a mid-life crisis of sorts a few years ago and needed a
project to help him find some purpose in life. So, we bought 5 ½ acres near Viborg and
he set about building a “farm cabin” on the land for us to use on the weekends. Over
the last couple years, the kids just had not been as interested as we had hoped and it
always seemed he was going there by himself to do repairs, build something new, mow,
or move snow. So in the end, it had met the purpose of giving him a project, but now
was just giving us a headache and lots of separation. So sadly, we decided to put it on
the market.
Fast forward about 6 months and the acreage just wasn’t selling. But this feeling
and timeline that had entered my head just felt valid. What would my husband
say? He was very nervous about me quitting my job and having no income anyway,
let alone without the acreage being sold. So I did my best to explain this feeling I had
to him. He listened, asked appropriate questions, and said he understood. We came up
with some other potential funding ideas, but in the end, what could we do? There was
no money available to leave my job. After I got off the phone, I prayed out loud . I
knew that God was impressing upon me with some urgency that I needed to follow this
timeline, but it seemed impossible for me to be able to meet it.
Despite my frustration,, I chose to look at God for who and what He really is—a
miracle worker who would make this happen if this is what He intended. I could
relax…I could “Be still and know” that HE IS GOD. If I was somehow meant to heal
or help someone through having my own practice, God would bless it. I simply needed
to pray and trust that the timing would work out…that God would work it out and
that I simply only needed to be His vessel.
In the next few days afterwards, we began pursuing one of the other funding options
but I still did not leave my job. And then it happened. We got an offer on the
acreage. After no offers for 6 solid months and only a few people looking, a great offer
came through and we accepted. I knew without a doubt God was blessing the timeline
He gave me, and when I had answered Him with love and respect in my heart, He
confirmed what I knew in the beginning: I am in the lead of my own practice to help
others find the Truth about their lives and themselves, and to learn to accept God’s
grace that he gives abundantly and freely because of Jesus Christ.
Look for more about the meaning of Truth & Grace here .